There weren't. There were warlocks, necromancers, and witch doctors. Shadow Priests as we have them in WoW was created out of forsaken lore.

Well that's kind of my point. There was evidence of dark or evil priests throughout WC3. It also makes sense that there are people out there who worship more sinister deities. Heck that exists in the real world. So it would make sense to develop a dark side to the priest class. Nothing like that exists for DHs in either WC3 or WoW. It's pretty hard to have a class go from a melee wielding warrior that harnesses demon magic to a bow user that uses traps and tools.

WC3 Deathknights didn't wear plate, they were humans, there wasn't any Rune stuff mixed in.
My point is that when you say "Demon hunters don't have x, therefore when they're in WoW they won't." is a strawman argument. Blizzard's done it again and again with their classes and their lore. If a mechanic or diversity makes more sense, they'll change something in a heartbeat.

Yeah, but again, a DK having plate armor makes sense because it's a heavily armored warrior. Going from a elven warrior that uses demonic energy and warglaives to a human bow-user using traps and devices in a single class doesn't make sense.

This isn't sarcasm or being snarky, but could you please explain to me what that void is that isn't filled by: Paladins, Deathknights, or Shaman?

I can see a few other voids that are more obvious. We have no melee cloth class (it was always assumed that would be monks but that isn't the case now) and only one ranged weapon class.

DKs and Paladins don't have many ranged spells, neither has casting spells, and neither does effective DPS from range. The Shaman is closer to what I'm talking about. It has mostly caster abilities and can effectively fight from range with shocks, totems, fire nova, and maelstrom weapon.

However that is just Enhancement Shaman. The DH would be an entire class similar to the Enhancement Shaman, just a bit meatier.

I really like your idea! Thumbs up.
Often thought about the startup zone for Demon Hunters, I finally imagined it something like this (sorry, I'm german and its of course the first time I'm describing a scenario in english ^^):

Black Temple. The player gets involved in Illidans training lessions for the first five Demon Hunters (referred as Chosen by now), as an assistant. You'll bring unlucky Draenei victims to the Black Temple so the Chosen can improve their fighting skills. After that you need to carry their smashed bodies away. During the quest line, you can watch Leotheras the Blind freaking around with his inner demon over and over again, it shall be a running gag and bring some fun stuff to the starter zone. While assisting Illidan in training the Chosen, three of them die, Leotheras drives fully insane and Varedis completes the lessons, now being in charge of training new Demon Hunters.

That's were you get involved as a Demon Hunter trainee, due to your success in assistance. Varedis asks you if you want to become a Demon Hunter. Of course you'll accept. Since you are a normal mortal character without any magic skills and so on, the first lesson is testing your fighting skills against lesser demons. By the time these demons get stronger and at the end, you'll face a dread lord or something. This dread lord kicks your ass, so Varedis keeps yelling stuff like "RELEASE YOUR HATRED AGAINST DEMONS" etc. Finally, you'll throw some ubah fire spell and burn the dread lord TO THE GROUND, BABY.

Illidan gets interested in you and want to test your newly learned skills against Leotheras, because he went insane and Illidan has no usage for him anymore. After winning the battle against Leotheras, he gets really mad and kills some Illidari. For this reason, Leotheras gets exiled to the Zangarmarsh and later gets captured by Lady Vashj and her Naga troops while berserking around in the Serpentshrine Caverns, hence being banished by three Greyheart Spellbinders (as you can still find him today). Illidan is impressed by your powers and offers you the Spectral Sight. In the following cut scene you'll see Illidan burning out your eyes with a cool laser beam. Damn, you're a real Demon Hunter now.

Well, that's the end of my thoughts because I don't know how Blizzard will reintroduce the Burning Legion.

Member of the World of Warcraft community since 2001 =)No more member of the hardcore raiding scene since Wrath - Coliseum.I'm addon author with focus on broker addons. Check out my WoW addons here !

Blizzard has stated that they want less gear that is exclusive to one class. I doubt they'd make warglaives a demon hunter only weapon. They'd either make a bunch of glaives and classify them as swords, or give most-all classes access to the new warglaive type weapon.

It'd be pretty cool to have warglaives specialization though, which gives them a slight damage or attack speed bonus for using two glaives.

Well, Warglaives wouldn't be a DH only weapon. I was just saying that Demon Hunters would have access to more types of Warglaives than other classes due to their starter area.

---------- Post added 2013-02-22 at 09:30 PM ----------

Originally Posted by skycaptain

Yes please, and only Night elves and Blood elves can be Demon Hunters. please.

LoL! I agree. However it seems that a lot of people would prefer the DH to be spread to more races.

I could see Worgens, Draenei or Orcs, but that's about it. I would hope that if Blizzard implements this they stick as close to DH lore as possible, and don't spread the class to every race in Azeroth.

---------- Post added 2013-02-22 at 09:32 PM ----------

Originally Posted by The Dwarf Lover

Awesome job, I love reading these class ideas that have visible effort in them. I hope we do get Demon Hunters in some form (preferably like this) when the next Burning Legion expansion rolls around. The Deconstruction is really well thought out and solves the armour issue.

Thanks for the kind words man. I'm glad to see that so many people view Deconstruction as a workable mechanic. Maybe Blizzard could use that for either a DH class or a Runemaster class in the future.

---------- Post added 2013-02-22 at 09:33 PM ----------

Originally Posted by grdn

I really like your idea! Thumbs up.

Thanks grdn. I like your idea for a DH starting zone as well. Especially the humor portion. I added a link to it in the OP. Thanks for posting it.

Its really deep attached to the lore as I'm really interested in what was going on at Draenor before TBC opened the portal back in 2007. And I like the fact that its telling the story of Illidari Demon Hunters and especially Varedis and Leotheras. There could be some more dramatic, for example Illidan sacrifices your characters family to some demons and telling you that not he killed your family but demons did. So your hatred against demons grows and grows larger and thus makes you a really powerful DH.

It's a really interesting thread and for some reason I still believe in Blizzard adding DH's as they would fit into another Burning Legion setting. Metzen stated that he would like to reintroduce Illidan as well, so why not as the Demon Hunter trainer in the DH starting zone? I mean, Illidan is dead and the only way he could find his way back to the living planes is getting rescued by Sargeras himself from the Twisting Nether (the place where dead demons will "respawn", incapsuled until released by someones powers again). Don't really know if reviving demons is possible, if it would Archimonde wouldn't be still dead I think).

Last edited by grdn; 2013-02-22 at 09:53 PM.

Member of the World of Warcraft community since 2001 =)No more member of the hardcore raiding scene since Wrath - Coliseum.I'm addon author with focus on broker addons. Check out my WoW addons here !

I WAS BAFFLED WHEN I FIRST STARTING PLAYING WOW... That there was no demon hunters ...
This is nice man, gj put alot of effort into it!... Would love to see DH in a Burning Legion expansion...
YOU GOT MY VOTE!

2. I hate you. You've now joined Golden Yak in setting the bar really, really high for fan-content ideas.

3. Are they strength or agility based? Would they be able to wear leather, mail, or plate armor for off-pieces, as I doubt Blizz will add a whole new armor type for one new class. (IMO, monks could have been the time to add AGI cloth, but they didn't go there.)

4. On the race discussion, I'd think orcs and draenei would be reasonable to add. As the two native (playable) peoples in Outland, members of those races might have sought out a new way to fight the demons.

Alternately, they could have been "conscripted" into the program. To tag on to GRDN's idea above, imagine an opening where a new elf player is bringing in resistive orc and draenei NPC prisoners as victims for DH trainees, while orc/draenei players start as those victims, but beat the trainees and get offered their opponents' spots in DH training. Each side of that opening could run for just a few quests before joining into the overall questline.

Beyond that, my own wish for a DH hero class starting zone is for it to be the Black Temple and Shadowmoon Valley, starting at about level 65. You'll gain a few levels, then have to defend the Temple against invaders, NPC Alliance and Horde raid groups. But Illidan is slain, and you are a wanted individual. Then Altruis the Sufferer finds you, and he sets you onto a more righteous path, as well as getting you united with the proper faction.

While I'm an elf fan, I don't see any lore reason to refuse other races. And on a purely practical level, monks would've been a much more logical choice for very restricted race selections, and Blizzard didn't do that. The races can learn techniques from each other, and a Demon Hunter is just an agile warrior who wields fel magic. Orcs, trolls, elves, goblins, gnomes, humans, undead, and dwarves have all shown skill with both of those things.

As for Deconstruction, I'd just take the DK route. Leave armor looking like it does, add a class-specific vendor that sells BOP items that can be used for transmog. So if people want to look like a traditional Demon Hunter, they can. If they want to look like something else, they can do that as well. There's no reason to add a whole new mechanic for a problem they solved in 4.3. I'd do the same for Warglaives.

They can't just "do additional damage to Demons." That's not possible to balance. Either they compete with other DPS on every fight and outshine everyone when the enemy is a demon, or they lag behind and only catch up versus a demon. You can maybe offer certain extra utility against demons, or maybe a slight bonus to a particular ability (like what Paladins have with Exorcism), but doing too much to focus on a particular enemy type will make the class impossible to balance.

I like the idea of the chain attacks, but it won't work out in practice. There was a similar system in Dark Age of Camelot, where certain attacks would chain off each other. In practice, pulling off those chains in a PvP setting was nearly impossible. The end result was that it was either not worth it to try, so you'd only use the opening attack over and over, or the finishing attack was so powerful that the fight was essentially over if you pulled it off. The latter, you could argue, is fine, since it took so much skill it maybe SHOULD end the fight, but then it would be overpowered in PvE where it was much easier to pull off. The best way to fix that would be to prevent chains from "breaking" either due to dodges/parries or time between attacks, but then you still have problems that WoW brought to light - specifically, that this is essentially a rotation and isn't really how Blizzard likes to design classes anymore. That's assuming that the "chain" doesn't all have to be on one target, so you're avoiding the Rogue problem with having to switch targets when all your combo points are on the guy you aren't supposed to hit anymore. Long story short, the chain mechanic is problematic. It's not impossible, but ultimately I don't know that it's worth it. I'd recommend something more like a resource system.

I'm not sure how the tank spec is supposed to take advantage of a damage bonus at full health when all their abilities cost health to use. I'm also not sure I get what the purpose of that health mechanic is - are they supposed to end up with a higher max health pool than other tanks? That creates a balance problem from two angles - either they take more damage than other tanks and therefore require more mana to heal, making them mana sponges, or they are the least spiky tanks in the game which would make them overpowered. I'd like to theorize about an alternate system there, but have to take off. If I come up with anything brilliant, I'll be back.

Hey thanks man! I based the Vengeance tree mostly off of your idea to incorporate Spellbreaker into the class. You should also know that the original draft of this included your version of Evasion. However after reading over it, it sounded too much like Brewmaster tanking, so I went ahead and made it more like the original version from WoW. In any case, thanks for the big help.

Right on. Haven't really tried the monk yet, so I had no idea how their tanking worked. I'm interested now if they've got some dodge-heavy action. Honestly was starting to think the evasion-style thing would work better for rogues - all my ideas for making it demon hunter-ish felt a little forced.

And yeah, I hope Blizzard is checking this out and considering incorporating this into a future expansion.

Yep, you should throw some of these around the official forums and other boards. Never know who might catch a glimpse or get inspired.

I don't like such specific conjecture, but you at least seem to have recognized there is room to flesh out a demon hunter if Blizzard decides to do it. And there are good reasons for them to decide to do so as well as bad reasons.

As long as you acknowledge that, I can live with the things I consider you're being needlessly rigid about.

Mana burn needs to just not effect targets without mana, and can't be rotational. The mana drained has to be not very significant. They could, instead, have a different, weaker move to use against non-mana using heroes. There were plenty of non-mana using units in WCIII, and mana burn simply did not function versus them.

Giving him two types of armor doesn't seem wise. That gives them wild loot advantages. Clearly, "mail" is the place to put them. The tattoo idea is ludicrously excellent. The "only elf" thing is as well, but there's no way Blizzard has the balls to do that. Hell, they even caved on druids.

call me a debbie downer but ive never been a fan of the demon hunters and i personally thought the illidan saga was boring. i read thru quite a bit of your post and it looks kinda cool but ive never liked the demon hunter class. i didnt like the demon hunter hero in wc3 either

call me a debbie downer but ive never been a fan of the demon hunters and i personally thought the illidan saga was boring. i read thru quite a bit of your post and it looks kinda cool but ive never liked the demon hunter class. i didnt like the demon hunter hero in wc3 either

I started out liking demon hunters as a class while not liking Illidan as a character. In fact I used to think he made demon hunters look bad. I later came to like Illidan a lot, but I don't think the association is as necessary as other people seem to.

The hero classes of Warcraft 3 all had to use a named hero from the story as a template, there is no way around that, but a person can now like paladins or deathknights without being accused of being a wannabe Arthas.

While I'm an elf fan, I don't see any lore reason to refuse other races. And on a purely practical level, monks would've been a much more logical choice for very restricted race selections, and Blizzard didn't do that. The races can learn techniques from each other, and a Demon Hunter is just an agile warrior who wields fel magic. Orcs, trolls, elves, goblins, gnomes, humans, undead, and dwarves have all shown skill with both of those things.

Well there's a big difference between laid-back, jovial Panda people arriving on Azeroth and desiring to teach non-Pandarens martial arts, and a secretive society of Night Elves and/or Blood Elves whose actions and rituals are so maligned that their own societies shun them. The former would be more likely to have a wider group of followers than the latter.

As for Deconstruction, I'd just take the DK route. Leave armor looking like it does, add a class-specific vendor that sells BOP items that can be used for transmog. So if people want to look like a traditional Demon Hunter, they can. If they want to look like something else, they can do that as well. There's no reason to add a whole new mechanic for a problem they solved in 4.3. I'd do the same for Warglaives.

Deconstruction is completely optional. Demon Hunter players wouldn't have to use it if they'd rather show the armor.

They can't just "do additional damage to Demons." That's not possible to balance. Either they compete with other DPS on every fight and outshine everyone when the enemy is a demon, or they lag behind and only catch up versus a demon. You can maybe offer certain extra utility against demons, or maybe a slight bonus to a particular ability (like what Paladins have with Exorcism), but doing too much to focus on a particular enemy type will make the class impossible to balance.

I removed that mechanic. I agree that it would be overpowered, or purposely underpower the class.

I like the idea of the chain attacks, but it won't work out in practice. There was a similar system in Dark Age of Camelot, where certain attacks would chain off each other. In practice, pulling off those chains in a PvP setting was nearly impossible. The end result was that it was either not worth it to try, so you'd only use the opening attack over and over, or the finishing attack was so powerful that the fight was essentially over if you pulled it off. The latter, you could argue, is fine, since it took so much skill it maybe SHOULD end the fight, but then it would be overpowered in PvE where it was much easier to pull off. The best way to fix that would be to prevent chains from "breaking" either due to dodges/parries or time between attacks, but then you still have problems that WoW brought to light - specifically, that this is essentially a rotation and isn't really how Blizzard likes to design classes anymore. That's assuming that the "chain" doesn't all have to be on one target, so you're avoiding the Rogue problem with having to switch targets when all your combo points are on the guy you aren't supposed to hit anymore. Long story short, the chain mechanic is problematic. It's not impossible, but ultimately I don't know that it's worth it. I'd recommend something more like a resource system.

Well this isn't Dark Age of Camelot, and I trust Blizzard has the technical know-how to make such a system work. Again, we're not building a warp drive here, we're just adding a game mechanic that a lot of people seem to desire. Also, I don't feel that sticking to the same target would be necessary. A Demon Hunter could begin the Shadow Chain on one target, that target dies, and continue the chain on an additional target, since the mechanic should give the player a fair amount of time to move on to the next step in the chain. Also while the finisher should be strong, it shouldn't be considered a super-duper finishing move that's going to insta-kill your target. in the write up, I stated that the finisher should approximately be 100% stronger than your regular spell. That could be tuned upwards or downwards for pure balance purposes.

I'm not sure how the tank spec is supposed to take advantage of a damage bonus at full health when all their abilities cost health to use. I'm also not sure I get what the purpose of that health mechanic is - are they supposed to end up with a higher max health pool than other tanks? That creates a balance problem from two angles - either they take more damage than other tanks and therefore require more mana to heal, making them mana sponges, or they are the least spiky tanks in the game which would make them overpowered. I'd like to theorize about an alternate system there, but have to take off. If I come up with anything brilliant, I'll be back.

I look forward to that. Thanks for the detailed response and critique.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 03:14 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Verain

Mana burn needs to just not effect targets without mana, and can't be rotational. The mana drained has to be not very significant. They could, instead, have a different, weaker move to use against non-mana using heroes. There were plenty of non-mana using units in WCIII, and mana burn simply did not function versus them.

Nah, I like it as a rotational spell, and I like it being useful against all opponents.

Giving him two types of armor doesn't seem wise. That gives them wild loot advantages. Clearly, "mail" is the place to put them. The tattoo idea is ludicrously excellent. The "only elf" thing is as well, but there's no way Blizzard has the balls to do that. Hell, they even caved on druids.

Sorry about the mix up. They can only use mail armor. Leather was there because of the "leather until 40" thing that mail class have. However since this is a hero class, that isn't necessary. The OP has been properly updated. As for the "only elf" thing, I'll leave it to Blizzard to decide.... If they ever bring this class into the game. For the purposes of the concept though, I think it should stay Elf-only.

Well put together, an excellent starting point.

I'm really surprised we don't have DHs already, honestly.

Thanks for the kind feedback. Who knows, Blizzard could be keeping DHs in their back pocket so that they can get subscription numbers up for an upcoming expansion.

---------- Post added 2013-02-23 at 03:19 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Jtree

3. Are they strength or agility based? Would they be able to wear leather, mail, or plate armor for off-pieces, as I doubt Blizz will add a whole new armor type for one new class. (IMO, monks could have been the time to add AGI cloth, but they didn't go there.)

AGI based with a passive that converts agility to spell power just like mental quickness with Enhancement Shaman. And honestly, incorporating Deconstruction would be the easy way out for them in terms of armor design. Most Demon Hunter players would probably just go for the tattoos.

Deconstruction is completely optional. Demon Hunter players wouldn't have to use it if they'd rather show the armor.

I was about to ask about that. I like the Deconstruction mechanic, but I see some issues. For instance, would there simply be a single tattoo design for all armors? How would tier and PvP sets work? Do they get unique designs? You know, things like that.

Something you can consider is demon hunter armor itself (particularly class-specific sets) being comprised of a series of tattoos, similarly to the monk T15 set.

I was about to ask about that. I like the Deconstruction mechanic, but I see some issues. For instance, would there simply be a single tattoo design for all armors? How would tier and PvP sets work? Do they get unique designs? You know, things like that.

Nah, again, it would work sort of like a dressing room or barbershop, where you Deconstruct the armor and then choose the tattoo you like. There definitely wouldn't be a specific tattoo for every piece of armor in the game. It would be similar to how Druid forms work. Yeah, you may get more powerful armor, but you're going to get the same Bear Form you had at level 15.

Something you can consider is demon hunter armor itself (particularly class-specific sets) being comprised of a series of tattoos, similarly to the monk T15 set.

Well there's a big difference between laid-back, jovial Panda people arriving on Azeroth and desiring to teach non-Pandarens martial arts, and a secretive society of Night Elves and/or Blood Elves whose actions and rituals are so maligned that their own societies shun them. The former would be more likely to have a wider group of followers than the latter.

I don't think Illidan training blood elves to be demon hunters was something he did just because they had pointy ears like he did. We don't really know what the Demon Hunters are. So far, we know of Illidan, his Illidari, and the Dark Embrace, who seem to have been doing their own thing for at least long enough to have ancient ghosts in the highborne ruins under Darkshore.

The Night Elves have now had around a decade of being a part of the Alliance, learning to fight side by side with magi and warlocks and deathknights. I think it's a bit of a rigid interpretation to think that if the world is literally about to end, with the Burning Legion on a full out invasion of Azeroth, that the Dark Embrace would not be willing to train anyone with the martial prowess and dedication it would take to make the sacrifices a demon hunter has to make. While I'd like to see demon hunters only for elves, I don't think it's far fetched at all to see other races making the sacrifice, should the character have sufficient motivation.

I don't think Illidan training blood elves to be demon hunters was something he did just because they had pointy ears like he did. We don't really know what the Demon Hunters are. So far, we know of Illidan, his Illidari, and the Dark Embrace, who seem to have been doing their own thing for at least long enough to have ancient ghosts in the highborne ruins under Darkshore.

The Night Elves have now had around a decade of being a part of the Alliance, learning to fight side by side with magi and warlocks and deathknights. I think it's a bit of a rigid interpretation to think that if the world is literally about to end, with the Burning Legion on a full out invasion of Azeroth, that the Dark Embrace would not be willing to train anyone with the martial prowess and dedication it would take to make the sacrifices a demon hunter has to make. While I'd like to see demon hunters only for elves, I don't think it's far fetched at all to see other races making the sacrifice, should the character have sufficient motivation.

Keep in mind, while Night Elves and Blood Elves are part of their respective factions, Demon Hunters arent a part of those societies. They pretty much have their own faction, and in that faction I've only seen Elven DHs. I think that makes a lot of sense for a variety of reasons.

Also to be quite honest, non-Elven Demon Hunters look kind of silly to me (except for Draenei), and it decreases the flavor of the class. I say keep it BE/NE only.

Not that it matters. Regardless of how many races could roll the class, DH would be the most popular class in WoW as soon as the expansion hit.

Giving him two types of armor doesn't seem wise. That gives them wild loot advantages. Clearly, "mail" is the place to put them.

I'm sure he meant leather/mail in the same way that hunters can wear leather/mail. They would obviously get mail specialization, if I'm understanding his intentions correctly.

Now, I saw a few posts back that you hadn't thought up talent trees for this guy. Well, here are some I tooled around with on a previous Demon Hunter Concept that I can change around and tie to yours.

This idea assumes that you'd actually be jumped from 65 to 70 in the starting zone, but dropping it to 55 works just as well.
Level 15: Movement Tree - Quest to gain access (a'la dk quests) involves obstacles that you must dodge and/or move by quickly. A DH must be faster than his enemies, afterall. Talent 1 is a passive speed increase. T2 allows your immolation to remain active when using path of flames, but for extra mana consumption. T3 replaces Path of flames with a flat mana cost equivalent of Sprint.

Level 30: Utility Tree - Access Quest lets you "possess" a demon (same as MC) and use its abilities to achieve your goal. Each talent option grants you a demonic ability. The AOE Torment (works as fear in dps spec and taunt as tank), seduction (cc), and spellsteal.

Level 45: Efficiency Tree - A DH must be able to react at a moment's notice. This tree lets you enhance your current spec or temporarily act as another in an emergency. You can gain a damage shield (with the wing animation described below), an increased chance to proc chains, or a mana refill option.

Level 60: Become the Beast - Like Illidan, you perform a ceremony on your quest and devour a demon's essence in some way. At the end, you earn your talent choice. T1 lets you mimic a nearby demon, granting you similar abilities (good for PVP paring with or against warlocks; pve gives you more control over the form than a warlock's pet). T2 grants you druid flying; you sprout wings when you activate it; in places with no flying, it works like instant ghost wolf. T3 gives you a gore attack that sprouts horns while active and gives you a chance to trigger a new chain finisher where you impale the enemy, stunning them for a duration and bringing them with you.

Level 75: Your own dark path - Now that you are entirely on your own, you begin to develop talents not previously seen in DH. You can either reduce the CD of your spectral sight; turn your smite demon into a variant touch of death; or makes glaive toss similar to FoK/Tempest

Level 90: Demonic Mastery - By level 90, you have true demon's blood coarsing through your veins. T1 lets you act as a demon like a DK can become undead for a short period of time. T2 is a passive increase to your mastery. T3 is a switch you can use to berserk, sacrificing protection for attack (great for execution phases).

Glyphs:
Meridian major - reduces the CD of meridian to 5 minutes.
Metamorphosis major - If you die while it's active, you get a shaman res.
Path of Shadow minor - removes the fire trail from path of flames
Banish Major - allows you to "vanish"
Wings of Chaos Minor - Instead of healing you, it heals nearby injured allies.
Demonic Grab Minor - pulls the target to you instead.
Spectral Sight Minor - Lets you track invisible passively.
Smiting Minor - Several options that let you change the creature type you can smite.
Shadow Blast Major - Increases radius.
Fire Bolt Major - Allows you to get the benefit of this spell at any range.
Demonic Entity Minor - Lets you have wings, horns, and hooves passively with no other effect.
Sight of Sargeras Major - Reduces Spectral Sight CD and increases chance to hit any target.
ONe Thousand Cuts - Channel while moving? Not sure how effective that would be.

Keep in mind, while Night Elves and Blood Elves are part of their respective factions, Demon Hunters arent a part of those societies. They pretty much have their own faction, and in that faction I've only seen Elven DHs. I think that makes a lot of sense for a variety of reasons.

Also to be quite honest, non-Elven Demon Hunters look kind of silly to me (except for Draenei), and it decreases the flavor of the class. I say keep it BE/NE only.

Not that it matters. Regardless of how many races could roll the class, DH would be the most popular class in WoW as soon as the expansion hit.

I think an orc demon hunter would kick a lot of ass.

Demon hunters, society wise, are only night elves. The only time they've been not night elves was when Illidan trained some among his private army amongst the castaways he lived with in Outland. Blood Elves don't have demon hunters in their society(as secret outcasts or among society) based on any precedent we've ever seen before. The only demon hunters we've seen again are Illidan, his Illidari, and the Dark Embrace (and Thalipedes, who is an enigma). But then again, we don't see Illidan training any Naga or Fel Orcs in his Illidari to be demon hunters, so who knows?

Frankly, Blizzard has sort of messed up what a demon hunter is compared to Illidan history wise, chicken/egg wise, because of Knaack's books turning everything Illidan can do into something Sargeras basically forced on him. Which makes night elf demon hunters into nothing more than some weird Illidan wannabes who for some reason thought of a way to imitate Illidan with some weird magical ritual blinding and tattoos.

I would prefer to see Blizzard change this a bit, and have demon hunters as an ancient clandestine warrior cult Illidan either founded in the days before the Sundering and his imprisonment, or that already existed which he was affiliated with and he dressed in their vestments. But I don't see that happening. I really look forward though to learning where the hell the Dark Embrace came from.

But back in the day, before Knaack's books, everyone assumed Illidan founded the demon hunter cult and trained them, which is why they look like him. Now, it just doesn't make a lot of sense as it is.

I don't think every single race should necessarily be able to be a demon hunter, but I don't think it should just be elves. That would for one lessen the chance they could ever happen in my mind, and for another mean we couldn't see awesome characters like orc or draenei demon hunters, if a draenei could do it without being turned into an Eredar in the first place.